Ice in the Desert
by Dennisthepinkgoldfish
Summary: When Alaska finds out that Russia is going to sell her to Mr. America, she runs away and ends up in Suna. Will the countries ever see her again? Will she meet the personification of The Land of Wind? read to find out! Rated T because I'm paraniod...
1. Prologue

**Ok, this is my new story, please read and review!**

**Prologue:**

Alaska cried as she ran from the only home she had ever known. Sure, Russia wasn't the nicest person to be around, but she couldn't believe he was going to sell her to Mr. America! So she ran, she didn't even look where she was going. Finally, after running for days, she collapsed.

When she awoke, she opened her tear stained eyes to see miles and miles of sand. 'Might as well start walking' she thought to herself. After walking for hours, she thought she saw a village made entirely of sand in the distance. The dome shaped sand buildings reminded her of the ice villages of her birth place.

At first she thought she might be hallucinating from the heat, even though she was always cold, but as she got closer she was overjoyed to realize that it really was there.

As she wandered through the desert city, she saw some human children running away from a small boy with blood red hair. He was holding a ball, looking like all he wanted was to play. She decided to walk up to the boy, after all she knew that she looked about the same age as him, and perhaps he could tell her where she was.

"Hello, my name's Alaska," greeted the young pale haired girl, "but you can call me Aly!"

And so, the friendship between Gaara and Aly began.

**TIME SKIP: THAT EVENING**

Baki walked into the Kazekage's office. "My lord," he said, "there is a strange girl in the court yard, playing with Gaara."

This came as a surprise to Gaara's father, as this had never happened before. "What does she look like?" questioned the man.

"about Gaara's age, pale hair, with purple eyes," replied Baki. The same thought that had already passed through the jounin's mind now ran its course through the Kazekage's, 'the biakugan.'

However, upon further investigation, they would realize that she did not possess the biakugan, she didn't even know what it was. Also, she was never seen in anything but a thick winter coat with a scarf and a long skirt that went down to the floor, effectively hiding thick winter boots.

**Time skip: one year later**

"Gaara, why do people run away from you all the time?" asked a young Aly. Actually, it was hard to tell that she had grown at all over the year spent at Suna. Everyone suspected that she had run away from home, although no one asked. She had taken to staying in the Kazekage's mansion, in Gaara's room to be exact. After all, he was her closest friend. In fact, she was sitting on his bed at that moment, with Gaara across from her.

"Its because of the Demon inside of me. It tells me to do bad things," was Gaara's reply. Despite the apparent lack of emotion, Aly could tell that this subject saddened him. However, she decided to plow ahead anyways.

"Can I speak to this demon?" she queried.

"I geuss," he replied, but Aly could see the fear in his eyes. "Grab my hands, and I'll take you to see him."

The two friends joined hands and entered the domain of the Shukaku. Upon entering the sandy mind scape, the two heard laughing. Not cheery laughter either, in fact Aly was reminded of Russia's laugh.

"I never expected you to bring me a visitor Gaara," it exclaimed. "You smell of the north."

"That is where I am from Mr. Demon," replied Aly. "Why are you in Gaara's head?"

"Call me Shukaku, and I am here because I was sealed here," it laughed, "and you smell like a country, however faintly."

"You know of the countries?" this revelation piqued Aly's interests. Gaara was now quite confused.

"Of course, after all, I am one, Although, I'm not exactly in the best place to be Suna anymore. Hmmm, I have an idea. I take it you no longer have any connections left with your original land, yes?"

"Yes, Russia was going to sell me to Mr. America, so I ran away."

"Ah, so you weren't even a country, you were a colony, perfect."

"How exactly is that perfect?"

"Well, I have a proposition. How would you like to become Suna?"

And so, Alaska took on a new name. For some reason though, she still felt cold in her core.


	2. Chapter 1

**Here's chapter one and please please please review, if I get enough reviews I might update early! If not I will update in a week! (I know I said that on my last one but on this one I will keep my word! plus I already have the first three chapters typed up ready to post!)**

**Chapter one: genin**

The academy chunin looked around the room of newly made genin. He was glad that this class would finally be graduated and out of his hair, after all this was Gaara's class. Looking around, he took in the sights that at first had been strange, but by now seemed almost normal. Although, he never would get over the sight of Gaara, The Gaara, The Demon, with a sweet little girl sitting on his lap. Despite the fact that if you actually knew the girl, you would know that she was fairly demented herself. But then, she was a ninja, so it wasn't that bad. Although, it was a bit frightening to see a little girl, well now she was becoming more of a young lady, smile innocently while describing bloody ways to kill people.

"As you know, you are here to receive your new genin squads. First off, squad one…" and so it went on. Finally he got to the last two squads. "Squad seven: Nejiri, Maki, Aly. Gaara, you have been placed in a special squad with your brother and sister."

Getting off of Gaara's lap Aly exclaimed, "aww, I was hoping to be in your squad Gaara-kun! Oh well, see you tonight!" With that, Aly walked over to her new team mates and Gaara left to go meet up with his siblings and Baki.

The newly named team seven was lead onto a nearby roof by their new Jonin sensei Mukade. Mukade smiled at his new seemingly innocent squad of fresh genin.

"Okay, how about to start out we introduce each other," The Jonin said. "Why don't you start out, tell us your name, ambitions, likes, dislikes, and anything else you might think is relevant," he said while pointing to the young brunette girl.

"um, I'm Maki, my ambitions.. umm.. to become the best kuniochi I can and serve my village. I like making and mending my own clothes, I dislike.. umm.. bugs, because they're all creepy and stuff. Oh, and I'm trying to develop my own jutsu!" Maki grew moore confident as she continued speaking.

As Mukade-sensei turned his gaze to the only boy in the group, he began, "I'm Nejiri, my ambitions are basicly the same as Maki's. I like Futball and hanging out with my friends, I dislike studying." He didn't feel as if there was anything else that needed saying, so he stopped there.

Finally all eyes rested on Aly, that mysterious girl who appeared in the village so many years ago. They looked toward that girl who somehow came to live in the Kazekage's mansion almost immediately upon entering the village. This was the girl who no one, aside perhaps Gaara, knew where she came from. She was the girl who would fearlessly hug the intimidating figure that was Gaara. And now, she was their teammate.

"Well, I'm Aly. My ambition is to become strong like папа Russia, so that he won't be able to sell me again! I love watching snow melt in the spring, the look of crimson blood on white snow, sunflowers, being warm, and making папа or Gaara-kun happy!"

"I dislike the cold of winter, and getting blood on my scarf, for it was a gift. That is all I feel like telling you!" The three other people on the roof looked at her, slightly scared.

"So, now that we know each other, why don't you have the rest of the day off and meet me tomorrow so I can assess your talent levels?" With that, Mukade-sensei leaped into the air, disappearing with a gust of wind.

"Well, I'm going to go home now! Bye!" Aly shouted while running to the edge of the roof and jumping off.

As Nejiri and Maki left, they both thought the same thing, 'at least there's two normal one's.'

**Scene change**

About a year later, the three genin were standing in the lobby of the Kazekage's tower waiting for Mukade-sensei to return with their new mission. When he finally walked into the room, they were taken aback by the surprised look on his face.

Seeming to be in shock, he said, "we have been assigned a B-rank mission, we are to go to the Kazekage's office immediately for debriefing." With that, he exited back through the door he just entered through. Maki, Nejiri, and Aly hurried to keep up.

The walk up to the office was rather long, seeing as it was at the very top of the dome shaped building. However, for the four shinobi, this walk was nothing.

Entering the office, the shinobi bowed at their leader, none of them missing the village elder sitting next to him. Looking all of them in the eye, the Kazekage began, "I have a very important mission for you. It is not a difficult mission, as I doubt you will meet any enemy nin. However, what you will learn in this mission is top secret information, and will not be spoken of after the mission ends."

"You will be escorting Ryūsa here to a world conference, which is being held in a very distant land to the north called Russia…"Even though Aly knew the rest was probably importantly, she couldn't hear it. Her mind was stuck on that one word, Russia, her папа. The world seemed to blur around the edges until she was abruptly drawn out of her stupor by her name being called, and by the Kazekage no less. "Aly, Aly are you listening to me?"

"I'm sorry Kazekage, I seemed to have zoned out for a moment."

The Kazekage smiled; after all he had come to think of her as a second daughter, not to mention the fact that she could keep Gaara moderately calm. "May I ask why you would zone out at a time like this, when you always seem to be paying attention to every detail at all hours of the day," Finishing, he raised a brow.

"ummm…. Well, you see, when you mentioned the place we were traveling to, it took me by surprise, that's all."

Everyone's eyebrows shot up at that. "you have heard of Russia?"

Aly nervously turned her attention to the ground, "well, I lived there for quite a few years when I was younger." She mumbled.

"How come you never told anyone?" asked the Kazekage.

"I didn't feel it was important."

"Why not?"

"Because, I left for a reason."

"And that was?"

"Classified information!" She grinned widely.

"To classified for the Kazekage?"

"Well, as the leader of this country, I should probably tell you, but not now, maybe later."

With that said, they all seemed to remember the mission at hand. "Here are the mission details. You will be given three hours to go home and pack. Also, pack warm, it's rather cold in Russia this time of year."

With that said, they all left to go pack, Aly slightly more nervous than the rest.

**Thank you for reading, please review!**


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Aly looked at her old coat, the one she used to wear at Russia's house. It was much too small now; she would have to buy a new one. _Actually,_ she thought, _maybe not. _She still had most of the three hours, she decided to take it to the seamstress. She quickly shoved extra ninja gear in her pack, along with some pale winter pants that she had bought for missions that she couldn't wear her normal skirt on. Although, she still liked her skirt better.

Putting all other necessary supplies neatly in her pack, she grabbed her coat and exited; she still had two hours and fifteen minutes. She quickly wrote a note to Gaara telling him she would be on a long term mission, and would probably be gone for at least a month. Finding some tape, she tapped the note to his bedroom door as she passed by it while exiting the house. She had moved out of Gaara's room not long after becoming a genin. She didn't move because she wanted to, but rather because the Kazekage insisted that a young lady can't sleep in a young man's room. That had to be the most akward conversation of her life.

Even though she had her own room now, and she did use it, she would still sneak into his room sometimes and sleep while he just sat there, lost in though.

As she was thinking these thoughts, she had made it all the way out the building and into the street. She waved to the old street vendor who sold her favorite dango, and she waved back and asked, "anything for you today?"

"No, thank you," Answered Aly with a sweet smile.

The lady smiled before saying, "Okay deary, come back soon!"

Aly waved goodbye and continued walking. Soon, she found the Seamstress and walked in. "Hello, how may I help you?" asked the young lady behind the counter.

"Well, I was hoping that you could fix my coat, it seems it's a bit small," said Aly.

"A bit?" she stated, looking at the coat Aly had presented. "It doesn't seem like you have been able to wear that since you were what, six?"

"Well, can you fix it?" Aly asked.

"No, but I can make you one that looks the same."

"How long will that take?"

"hmmm, about an hour and thirty minutes."

"That'll be perfect!"

**Scene change**

About an hour and a half later, just like she had estimated, Aly walked out of the store with a little less money, and a brand new coat. The seamstress had even given her a discount in exchange for her old coat, as she had a niece who lived up north that it would fit perfectly.

With time to spar, she decided to take her time in getting to the front gate. She felt uncharacteristically happy today, she wasn't really sure why. Oh well. As she looked around, she couldn't help but be proud, '_These are MY people," _she thought. Somewhere deep in her mind she thought, _'I can't wait to show my папа how big I've become!'_

She was almost completely lost in thought when she saw a head of bright red hair. Running up to him, she pulled him into a big hug from behind. "Hi, Gaara!" the young country exclaimed.

"Hello Aly," the jinchuriki replied. "Why so excited to hug me all of a sudden?"

"I'm leaving on a mission today, and I don't know when I'll be back."

"Oh, well, good bye then."

"bye," Aly released him from her hug and started walking away. Before she got too far, she suddenly felt two slender arms wrapping around her from behind. "I'll miss you," a voice growled in her ear before the arms released her. She continued walking away, this time in a much better mood.

**Scene change**

She arrived at the gate of the village just as Maki and Nejiri did. After a couple more minutes Mukade and elder Ryūsa arrived.

When they got to the three genin, Mukade said, "well, we might as well get going now. Hopefully we can cover a good distance before nightfall."

With those words spoken, the jounin, three genin, and village elder departed.

Ryūsa kept up with the ninja well, and they were almost to the border of wind country before they decided to set up camp. Maki immediately began to set up to cook, Nejiri got the fire started, and Aly went off in search of any desert hare she could find. All together, the three genin made an exceptional meal, considering they were camping in the middle of the desert. They group of five slept well, with full stomachs.

The next day passed very much the same, except they went from The Land of Wind to The Land of Earth, passing through the small country between the two in a couple of hours. They set up camp in the southern part of the country, more careful than the night before so that no foreign nin would find them.

The third day, they left Earth Country all together; they were now in southern Russia. They all changed from their normal clothes into the warm winter gear they had brought. However, according to the maps, they had a long way to get to the capital, Moscow. Aly decided that she should enlighten them with a wonderful short cut. On the first day in Russia, it seemed like a good idea, and Aly said it would cut their travel time in half. On the second day, they still had not seen a single sign of civilization. Finally, Nejiri spoke his worries, "Aly, are you sure this is a short cut, and we're not just lost?"

However, Aly would here none of it, "I'm completely sure. I know exactly where we are. At this rate, We'll get to the next sign of civilization tomorrow evening." After that, they decided just to let her lead. After all, she had been there before. Thus passed the second day in Russia.

On the third day, everyone seemed happier than they were the day before; they would get to stay in a town tomorrow night! But as the day wore on, there worries grew. Except for Aly, because she knew exactly where they were. And, exactly as she had predicted, just as the light of day started to fade, they ran into a house. "We're here!" exclaimed Aly.

Walking up to the door, Aly began to have second thoughts '_What if he's mad at me for running away? Oh well'_ she told herself '_too late now.'_ She knocked on the door.

Slowly, the door creaked open, revealing a small blonde boy who was shivering. Whether from the cold or out of fear, the four Suna natives couldn't tell. Aly knew it was from a combination of both.

"Hello Raivis, is папа home?"

**Sooooo... here's the second chapter, on time as promised... but really! not a single reviewer! *goes to my emo corner* Please review!**


	4. Chapter 3

"Talking in Russian"

"_Talking in japanese"_

'_thinking'_

**Chapter 3**

_Last time: A nervous looking Alaska stood at the door, _"_Hello Raivis, is папа home?"_

Now: Raivis's eyes widened, taking in the sight of the little girl who ran away a few years ago, except now, she wasn't a little girl anymore. He fainted.

The four suna natives stared at the short man, teenager really, who had just fainted. Aly, on the other hand, saw this coming and caught him. "They really shouldn't have him answer the door, he really doesn't cope well with surprises."

Aly led them into the house, still carrying Latvia. They followed, not really sure if it's appropriate to just walk into someone else's house after they pass out. When they got into what seemed to be a sitting room, Aly put Raivis on the couch. Then, they heard a voice coming from down the hall, "Latvia, who was at the door?"

"_You guys stay here okay, I need to go ask if we can stay here_," Aly said as she walked off.

Walking down the small room to the room she now knew Russia was in, she noticed how little this house had changed. It still had no pictures handing on the walls, and it looked almost exactly the way it had when she left it. Running her hands along the walls of her childhood, she finally came to the kitchen where Russia, Estonia, and Lithuania were sitting, having dinner.

They must have heard her footsteps approaching because Russia said, without turning around to look at her, "Little Latvia, you will tell me who was at the door, Да?"

"Um, Latvia passed out…"replied Aly.

At the sound of a voice that definitely wasn't Latvia, all three countries turned to stare at the young girl who closely resembled Russia. Or maybe more like a nice version of Belarus.

All four of them stood frozen for a moment before Aly broke the silence, "H-hello папа. I-I'm sorry I ran away."

"Alaska? Is that you?" Russia was the one to speak next.

"Yes папа, my friends and I are in Russia for the meeting. I was hoping we could stay here tonight…" Aly couldn't bring herself to look up anymore. She didn't notice that Russia had stood up and walked across the room until she felt his arms wrap around her, "My little дочь, I am so glad you came back, but I take it you are aware that you are no longer my colony."

"I know папа, it's just that, well, it's a long story." Aly replied, not sure how to explain it.

"We have plenty of time, why don't you sit and you can explain over dinner," It might have sounded like an offer, but everyone in the room knew it was really a demand.

"Can my friends join us so I can explain to them too?"

"Да."

"_Maki, Nejiri, Mukade-sensei, Ryūsa, you can come in here now_!" exclaimed Aly.

As the sand shinobi entered, they were surprised at the sight of Aly cooking in a kitchen while three men sat at a table. Two of them were shivering, and the third was smiling, appearing to have no care in the world.

"Well, I might as well get started, when I learned that you were going to sell me to Mr. America, I ran away, and ended up in Sunagakure…" Aly told of all that had happened after she left up to the point where she learned that she would be coming to Russia.

"And the rest is pretty self explanatory," she finished while placing the food she had been cooking in front of her friends, her sensei, and the village elder. Finally, she sat down and began to eat herself. She had decided to make some pierogi with pea soup. She hadn't had that since she left Russia's house, and she felt like it was right to make it now that she was back.

"So, I was hoping that we could stay here for tonight and maybe you could take us to the meeting tomorrow?" Aly finally asked. She was glad that the four sand nin with her had decided to hold their tongues for now and let her do the talking.

"Of course, you may stay in your old room, and they may stay in the guest rooms near it. We leave tomorrow at 7, I take it you already have plans on where to stay once at the meeting?" Russia was still smiling.

"Yes, our Village has made arrangements for us to stay there for the duration of the meeting," Ryūsa decided this was a good time to speak up. Oh, how wrong he was.

Russia's smile turned to the village elder, "I'm sorry; I was not speaking to you, but thank you for the information." The other nations heard the polite statement for what it really was '_shut up or I will kill you.' _Even though this went unnoticed by the human's in the room, they couldn't help but shiver. Even Ryūsa, who normally would have replied somewhere along the lines of respect your elders, decided not to speak.

Out of nowhere, Aly realized something, "Oh, I forgot to introduce you! _Maki, Nejiri, Mukade, Ryūsa, I would like you to meet my папа, you can call him Mr. Braginski, and they are Toris Laurinaitis and __Eduard von Bock. They work for __папа, along with the man who you met at the door, Raivis Galante_." She explained, pointing out each person in turn. Then she turned to the afore named 'Mr. Braginski' and asked, "May we be excused, папа?"

"Okay my little Aly," Russia said. With that, everyone got up and left the table. On her way out, she felt Russia's arms wrap around her, "It is good to see you again. You must visit more often, Да?"

Once he released her, Aly walked away calmly, smiling at the fact that her папа missed her. Then she led her team over to the east wing of the house, where her room was, along with quite a few empty rooms for guests. Not that Russia had guests, but he really wanted them…

After they put their gear down in their temporary rooms, all except for Aly walked back into the hallway. With a wordless agreement, they walked over to Aly's room and knocked on her door.

When Aly opened the door, she took one glance at their faces and nervously stuttered, "_Oh well, I guess there's no chance of keeping it from you any longer…"_

**Yes, the village elder knows Russian, he was chosen as a representative for his immense language skills. **

**Anyway huge thanks to my two reviewers- PewPEwLaser and ****Lady Styx! And on that note, please leave a review! consructive critisism is always welcome!**


	5. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, except this chocolate bar, its MINE! **

"Talking in Japanese"

'_Thinking'_

_sounds_

**Chapter 4**

_Last time:_ _When Aly opened the door, she took one glance at their faces and nervously stuttered, "Oh well, I guess there's no chance of keeping it from you any longer…"_

Now: The four Suna natives followed Aly into her room. Looking around, they noticed that for a child's room, it was rather grown up. From the lilac carpeting to the black bed with white patterns that appeared to be hand stitched, the room did not look like it ever belonged to a six year old. On top of that, the plain wooden desk and various pictures of nature and maps that hung around the room made it look even less like a six year olds bedroom. The only thing that sort of showed the presence of a little girl was on one map there were pink hearts drawn in crayon all over it.

'_Why would she draw hearts on a map of Latvia?_' thought Nejiri as he noticed this. After taking in the room, they all turned their eyes to Aly.

"Please sit down, this could take awhile," said Aly, gesturing to the chairs around her room. The elder took the well cushioned chair in the corner, that Aly remembered curling up in so many times and reading well into the night. Mukade sat in the desk chair that Aly used to sit in as she drew pictures or did the paperwork that came with being a colony. Nejiri settled on top of the trunk of toys that she hadn't touched in so long, even a long time before she ran away she had stopped using them. Aly herself perched on her bed, and Maki, seeing nowhere else to sit, sat down next to her.

"Well, I guess I should start by explaining what we are. You see, for every county there is a personification…" she told her story, from when she was a little girl who would watch all her tribes, to her life as Russia's colony and the reason she ran away. Finally she finished by telling them about how the only reason she grew as quickly as she did was because she was now also The Land of the Wind along with Suna.

Staring at the ground, Aly was afraid to look up at her friends faces. That is, until she felt warm arms surround her. Looking up into the face of Maki, she saw something that was unexpected. Acceptance.

"Thanks for telling us this stuff; it must have been really hard to talk of things so personal. I'm glad you felt you could trust us!" assured Maki. With this statement, Aly realized just how close she had grown to these people, her team. Of course, this excluded Ryūsa, as she had no feelings toward the old man.

"Y-you believe me?" Aly asked finally, in shock.

"Of course we do, you're our teammate," this time it was Nejiri who spoke up.

"Well now that that's settled, why don't we all get some rest?" suggested Mukade. Deciding this was a good idea as they all had to get up tomorrow for the meeting, they all got up and exited the room.

Aly watched as they all got up and filed out of her room. As soon as the door shut behind Maki, she allowed herself to flop back on her bed, releasing a sigh.

Not even bothering to change, she crawled under the blankets and passed out.

~Line Break~

_Bang, Bang, Bang. _Aly awoke to a banging on her door. Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes sleepily. Crawling out from in-between her soft blankets, she put her feet on the cold hardwood ground. Slowly shuffling her way to the door, she opened it to a bright and sunny Maki.

"What?" Aly demanded.

"I just came by to wake you up! We have an hour until Mr. Braginski is taking us to the meeting." Replied a way-to-cheerful Maki. Needless to say, Aly was not a morning person.

"Oh, thanks…I guess I should go take a shower then," Aly grabbed her clothes and headed to the bathroom. As she walked in, she saw herself in the mirror and slightly remarked upon her horrible bed head. Turning on the water, she undressed and stepped into the shower. She let the warm water calm her muscles as she washed her tangled hair. After she was clean she shut the water off and stepped out.

Putting on her clothes, she put on the pale skirt and gray undershirt that she wore beneath her coat. Putting her hair up into a towel, she walked back to her room. Stepping into her room, she let her hair down and brushed it out. Letting her hair air dry, she slipped into her long sleeved coat, and then placed her favorite scarf over it.

As she left her room again, this time to wake the others up, she saw Maki. "Oh, no! You are not going to be representing Suna with hair like that!" exclaimed the teenage girl as she pulled Aly back into her room.

Walking into the room, Maki sat Aly down on the desk chair, and pulled out a brush and began to run it through her hair. "What's wrong with it? I wear it like this every day." Aly told Maki.

"Exactly! That's why you can't wear it like this! You're going to be representing all of Suna! So, You have to be presentable, and look nice. We want to leave a good impression on the other nations." Maki explained as she continued messing with her hair.

"But I always represent Suna," said Aly, her argument diminishing into nothing.

"Yes, but now you're going to be representing Suna in front of other people!"

"But, but…"

"Oh, just shut up and let me do your hair."

"Why do you want to do my hair so much anyway?"

This brought a blush to Maki's face as she explained, "I-it's just, I always wanted a sister." As she said this she looked down.

"Well then, we can be sisters, if you want," said Aly.

"H-how?"

"Well, I don't know. We just call each other sister I guess. That's how it works for nations anyway." Aly answered rather bluntly.

"You- you mean it?" Maki stuttered.

"Sure! We can be family!"

"What about your real family?"

"What do you mean? Isn't this how family works?"

"…"Maki couldn't say anything to that, so instead she decided to simply smile and say, "Yeah, I guess it is." However, she couldn't help but think, '_This must be how nations work, after all, nations don't have parents…so maybe they just kind of adopt each other, and make their own families?'_

This simple answer made Aly smile brightly, and continue to smile as Maki continued fixing her hair.

A few minutes later, Aly say that her hair was piled on top of her head in a very professional bun. She smiled, and decided she liked the look as she headed down for breakfast with Maki and the guys, who had finally woken up. Good thing they didn't take near as long getting ready.

**A/N: Sorry it's late! My grandpa came down to visit, and I should be studying for my Spanish final tomorrow… Also, this has nothing to do with anything, but I'm going to say it anyway, I DIED MY HAIR PURPLE! Ok, I just felt like announcing that… Also, huge thanks to my faithful reviewer PewPEwLaser! Your review really has me thinking about things…I might just –maybe- add that in later…**

**Please Review! They really help boost my extraordinarily low self-esteem!**


	6. Chapter 5

"Talking in Japanese**"**

"_Talking in Russian"_

**Story:** Aly walked into the kitchen, noticing Lithuania already cooking eggs and toast. She walked over to the fridge and took out some jam and butter. Placing these things on the table, she then walked over to a cabinet to grab some plates.

When she finished setting the table, Lithuania walked over and set down a pan of scrambled eggs and a plate of toast.

"_Thank you Lithuania,"_ Aly said as she eyed the food. As she said this, Estonia, Latvia, and Russia walked in.

"_Good morning_," said Russia as he sat down in the spot Aly had set for him. On his face was a small childlike smile that did not match his intimidating looks at all. They all ate breakfast, most not even bothering to talk because of the early hour.

After everyone was done eating breakfast, Aly and the Baltic States got up and cleaned up the mess. That chore done, they all stood up and headed outside. Aly new very well that this could be the last time she would get to see this house in a long time, if ever. Walking through the halls, she recalled all the good times she had spent here. She purposefully ignored all the bad times, she had long ago put those behind her, in a small little box in the back of her mind with a sign that said "DO NOT TOUCH."

Coming back to the present, she realized they had already made it outside. She stepped into the limo that awaited them. She ended up sitting between Russia and Maki. On the hour long ride to Moscow, Maki and Nejiri and Aly held a constant conversation in Japanese, while the adults just sat there. Russia never stopped smiling once.

When the Limo pulled to a stop in front of the official building the UN meeting was being held at, all the people in the car spilled out. They then proceeded to enter the afore mentioned building. Ryūsa was led to the human UN meeting, while Maki, Nejiri, and Mukade were all led away to a room where they could wait out the day. Russia then led Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Suna to the real meeting room.

When they entered the room, the room was in chaos. Russia simply smiled and calmly walked over to his seat, smiling childishly the whole way. The other four nations followed him and took the seats to the left of him, with Aly as the closest due to the fact that she wasn't afraid to sit there.

After a while, Germany stood up and called the meeting to order. "We should start out with introductions, as we have a new nation here today. We will begin with her introducing herself and then have everyone else introduce themselves starting with Russia and continuing in a circle going clockwise. Everyone will state their name and their country."

As all eyes turned to her, Aly stuttered out, "M-my name is Alysen Braginski, and I represent Sunagakure." She didn't exactly feel the need to explain how she also represented Alaska, not yet at least. After she finished, the countries introduced themselves exactly as Germany had instructed them to.

With introductions done, the meeting began. However, after about two hours of various nations making speeches about world issues, chaos started to return. As the room disintegrated into conversation, arguments, and a few fights, Aly felt a hand on her shoulder.

Looking behind her, she saw the exact person she had been hoping to avoid, America. "Hello, I just wanted to introduce myself personally! I'm the United States of America! Also known as the HERO!" America practically yelled above the noise level of the room.

Aly instantly went pail, but managed to stutter out, "H-hello, I'm Suna. N-nice to meet you."

"So, why did you show up with the commie?"

Knowing he must be referring to Russia, she answered truthfully, "We-my escort and I- stayed at his house last night."

"Why did you stay at his place anyway?"

"Well…I sort of missed him…"

"What did you know him from?" by this time, America seemed to truly care, and wasn't just being nosy.

"I used to be his colony, but then I ran away when he sold me to another country. I met the old personification of Suna, and he decided to make me the new Suna, as he was unfit for the job."

"What were you before being Suna then?" America was astounded; he had not known that passing on powers was even possible.

"I was, I mean I still am Alaska."

After her little revelation, America had insisted that his state should get to know him better, and proceeded to invite her over to his house. Aly had politely turned him down by saying "I'll try" but made no promises. He had practically dragged her away from Russia and over to the other side of the room, all the way there telling her about how he had prepared a room for her already at his house, and had built a house in Alaska just for her. He even gave her the keys right then and there.

America was so happy to have finally found his long lost state, he almost didn't notice when some officials came in to try and bring some order to the room.

In the room of normal representatives, Ryūsa had much of the same introduction as Aly, and he even found out that he was the first representative from the elemental continent to ever make it to a meeting. When he asked about the racket that vaguely reminded him of the academy's lunch room, the representative next to him told him that was just the 'other' representatives.

A couple of minutes later, he heard some shouting and then the noise disappeared all together. He assumed this meant that they had settled down and begun. Two hours or so later, however, he noticed it start up again. After about an hour more of noise, the topic turned from something called "global warming" to the noise being emitted from the other meeting room.

"Whose turn is it to go and restore order this time?" asked the representative from Australia.

"I believe it is America's" said the English representative.

"Fine, but I'm taking the new guy with me to show him how it's done." With that, Ryūsa was dragged out the door to the other room.

**AN: See, this one's on time! Huge thanks again to PewPEwLaser for reviewing, and if Russia does invade Suna, it will either be in the sequel or something. Also, while they kind of have blood relations, the way I see it, since they don't really have parents or anything…um yeah. **

**Anyway, please review! Tell me what you think should happen next, or just what you think, or anything!**


	7. Chapter 6

Story:

_Whoosh. _The doors to the meeting room slammed open. All the nations immediately stopped squabbling to look at the doors. Most had been expecting this to happen soon, although some still managed to be surprised, even though this happened at practically every meeting.

When she saw Ryuga, Aly ducked behind America, hoping he wouldn't see her. Of course, he didn't. This however, was not due to her excellent hiding skills, but rather it was because he was much too busy taking in the chaos to notice.

"You should know better! This is a diplomatic meeting! Return to your seats immediately!" the other human representative practically yelled. Needless to say, they all returned to their seats with all haste.

The meeting was rather dull from then, with a lunch break at lunch. At six, the meeting came to an end for the day. After that, all the nations dragged Aly to a bar, saying that they did this after every meeting. When she said she should probably tell Ryuga or someone where she was going, they waved it off and said the other representatives would tell him.

While at the bar, Aly made sure she didn't drink anything. She did not want to get drunk in a strange city, actually she had never been drunk before, and wasn't intending to start now.

Instead, she sat there and conversed with the many nations who wanted to know her better. After all, meeting a new nation was rare, and it was even rarer for them to be a girl. Because of this, she found that she was rather popular.

At about midnight, she decided to head over to the hotel where she was staying. Upon arrival, she was question on where she was. After a lengthy explanation, she fell into the bed that was for her, and fell asleep.

After four more days of meetings, it was time to head home. Aly of course had many invitations to stop by when she "happened to be in the neighborhood". With her new friends in mind, she smiled as she returned to Suna. However, she couldn't help but remember her deal America.

Walking through the gates of Suna, she couldn't help but smile. This was her home, and no one could say otherwise. Her smile broadened when she saw Gaara running up to her.

"Aly, you're back!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, did you miss me?" she questioned as she pulled him into a hug.

"Aly! You're crushing me!"

"Oh, sorry!" And the two friends were reunited after the brief mission.

For the next month, the two hung out just like old times. They had always maintained a strong friendship. However, over the month, it seemed like Aly became more possessive. Of course, it wasn't just over Gaara, but rather everyone. In fact, when addressing someone, she would often add 'My' before their names. For example, she would call Gaara "My Gaara" and Maki "My Maki." No one quite figured out why.

But truthfully, she thought that since this was her village, everyone in it belonged to her. They just didn't know it.

A month later, after several small D-rank missions, she walked into the Kazekage's office with her team. Seeing all the other genin squads gathered, she decided to stay silent for once. Then, the kazekage started speaking.

He explained the mission, to go to the chuunin exams in Konaha, and how the actual goal was to carry out an attack on the village. Even though she didn't really want to attack the leaf, she knew better than to question him on thing like this. So, all of the genin teams set out for Konaha.

The travel there was a quick one. They ran into no trouble in the desert, mostly because of Gaara. When they passed into the forest that filled the land of fire, they paused. Looking to their sensei, Mukade said that they were going to learn tree jumping, a needful ninja skill. Jumping to the top of the trees, they began jumping from branch to branch. The first day of this new way of travel was slow, but after that, the pace sped up greatly. By the time they entered the leaf, they had all pretty much perfected the skill.

Aly couldn't help but compare these trees that they lept through to the magnificent trees of Alaska. While they were very, they still made Aly slightly homesick. She remembered how long it had been since she last saw her birth land. It had been far too long.

When they finally entered the village, there was a tedious check at the gate to make sure that they meant no harm. Of course, they did mean harm, but the Leaf nin didn't know that.

Baki lead them to the hotel that all the Sand nin would be staying at during their stay. Each team would share a suite, with the jounin sensei in a smaller room nearby.

Walking into their suite, Maki and Aly immediately claimed the bedroom that had two twin sized beds. Nejiri resigned himself to sleeping on the couch for the duration of the exams. Setting down their packs, they decided to explore the village.

As they passed various venders, the trio bought dinner. Pulling her team mates into a dango shop, Aly saw a rather intimidating Leaf Kunoichi wearing a large trench coat. As she left with some dango in hand, she shot Aly a very malicious smile.

After disregarding the odd female, Aly walked up to the lady behind the counter.

"Three sticks of dango please!"

**BREAK**

When they finally returned to the hotel, the trio was exhausted. Nejiri fell onto the couch and was heard snoring seconds later. The girls at least took their time to get ready for bed before promptly passing out as soon as their heads hit the pillows.

Aly was slightly regretful that she would soon be attacking this lovely place. _Oh well, Orders are orders, _she thought as she drifted away to dreamland.

**AN: Look! Its on time again! Huge thanks to my singular reviewer PewPEwLaser! My goal for this chapter is to get two review! Please! Oh and if anyone has any ideas about Aly's ninja techniques, please leave them in a review! **


	8. Chapter 7

**AN: Sorry that this is late and kinda short, but I was busy with fathersday yesterday... but, I HAD THREE REVIEWERS LAST CHAPTER! I'M SO HAPPY I COULD CRY! HUGE THANKS TO PewPEwLaser, Gaaraluva15, AND Anne Whitehead! l LOVE YOU GUYS! Now onto the chapter:**

Previously: Aly was slightly regretful that she would soon be attacking this lovely place. _Oh well, Orders are orders, _she thought as she drifted away to dreamland.

Story: _Aly looked around, but all she could see was trees. There seemed to be no end to the great forest she was surrounded by. As she continued walking, she realized that these weren't just any trees, they were her trees. She was in Alaska._

_Just as she began to worry that she might be lost (even though she had never been lost in Alaska before) she came upon a wolf. This wolf happened to be very familiar wolf._

_"Arios!" Aly shouted at him, exited to see her childhood friend._

_"Why did you leave? Is Alaska not enough for you?" Arios looked forlorn. _

_"N-no, that's not why-" but she didn't get to finish as she felt herself falling, and darkness surrounded her. She cried out as she continued to fall into the black void._

Aly shot up in the bed she was in. It took her a second to get her bearings and remember that she was on a mission in leaf. Seeing that Maki was still asleep, Aly decided to head out for a walk.

Walking through the streets, it didn't take her long before she was hopelessly lost. Turning a corner, she saw a man with a girl about her apparent age, and a boy that was about a year older than her. She decided to ask them for directions back to her hotel.

As she neared them, she noticed that they all had purple eyes. This made the homesickness that had started to grow since she left the world meeting ping sharply. Pushing the feeling aside, she walked up to them.

"Hello sir, I was wondering if you could-"she began.

"Move, I have no time for children like you," the man cut her off.

Her eyes widened at the blunt rudeness of this man. "But I was just wondering if you could tell me which way-"

The man looked at her, and upon seeing her eyes, his eyes widened. "Who are you?" he demanded.

"My name is Aly, I'm here for the chunnin exams, but I'm rather lost and was wondering if you could tell me-"

"Where did you get your eyes?" again, it was more of a demand then a question.

"M-my eyes?"

"Yes, your eyes, only Hyuuga posses purple eyes!" he stated as if she was dumb.

"I've always had these eyes, and I can assure you that other people besides the Hyuuga have purple eyes!"

"That is not possible! Only the Hyuuga posses the byakugan!"

"I never said anything about the byakugan! Just because my eyes are the same color as the byakugan, does not mean that I posses the Hyuuga Kekkei genkei!"

"O-oh… well then… what was it you needed?" after being proficiently beaten in the argument, he at least had the decency to look embarrassed.

"I'm lost, would you happen to know the way back to the lotus hotel?" Aly finally got her question out.

"Of course, Neji, please show her the way to her hotel."

"Yes Uncle," said the boy that had remained silent throughout the argument.

The boy then walked past Aly, back the way she had come. "Well, are you coming? The hotel is this way."

Turning around, she quickly caught up. "Thanks for helping me!" she said.

"hn" was all he said as a reply.

'_Great, he's one of those people that only say one word responses. It's bad enough that Gaara started doing that a couple years ago,' _she thought with a sigh. Deciding he probably wouldn't want to talk to her anyway, she just decided to remain silent the rest of the way.

Seeing her hotel come into view, she said, "Thank you again,"

As he turned to walk away, she decided to give him a huge smile and wave and called out, "Bye Neji!"

After he disappeared, likely by jumping onto the roof, she turned around and walked into the hotel, noticing she had already wasted half the day. When she walked through the door, she was tackled by Maki.

"Aly, where have you been? When I woke up you were just gone! Mukade-sensei and Nejiri-kun are out looking for you! And I stayed here in case you came back on your own!"

"Well, umm, you see, I woke up early and decided to take a walk. But then I got lost…"

This made Maki smile as she remembered all the times Aly had gotten lost before, on just about every mission outside of Suna.

"Well, we still need to hunt down the guys!" Maki released Aly from the huge hug she had been held in and grabbed her hand instead.

"OK," Aly was dragged out the door.

"Out of curiosity, how did you find your way back?" Maki questioned as she dragged Aly down the street.

"Oh, I asked for directions," replies Aly, looking slightly embarrassed.

"And you were actually able to follow them back here correctly without getting lost again!" Maki thought that maybe her sense of direction was improving. As she said this, the two Kunoichi took to the roofs to better find the rest of their team.

"Well, actually he walked me back to the hotel," Aly said, blushing at the implication that she had no sense of direction. Even if it was true, that didn't mean that she liked it pointed out to her.

"You know your hopeless right?" Maki sighed.

"Yeah…" Aly sighed back.

They continued looking until they spotted the two boys a few minutes later. "Nejiri, Mukade-sensei!" They called out to them, waving them over. When they got there Aly had to explain what happened again, and Nejiri just rolled his eyes while Mukade sighed in defeat.

"Whatever, we might as well get some lunch and then go train a bit," Mukade told them. Nodding in agreement, the three gennin followed their jounin sensei to a nearby ramen stand called Ichiraku's, where they met a strange leaf genin dressed in orange.

**AN: Thank you everyone for reading this, I'd like to thank all the people who favorited this or put it on alert! And please leave a review telling me what you think. what you want to see more/less of, what you like/dislike, and consructive critisism is always welcome! Also, if yu have any ideas for cool jutsus for Aly please tell me about them! My goal foe this chapter will be four reviews! I know you can do it!**


	9. Chapter 8

After a hard training session, Aly decided to explore on her own again. Which leads us to the current situation; she was lost, again.

Walking around aimlessly, she considered asking for help again. She was so tired, after all that training, all she really wanted to do now was relax in her hotel room, and take a long nap. Unfortunately, the road was deserted. Feeling very stupid, she continued to walk.

Turning a corner, she heard a very familiar growling voice up ahead. Running in that direction, She saw Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro walking away from what looked like a leaf genin team and three academy students.

Picking up speed, she launched herself into the air yelling "My Gaara-kun," right as she tackled the poor red head. Clutching on to him, she began to babble. "I haven't seen you in forever! Well, actually I saw you yesterday, but I still missed you! We should talk more often! You should walk me back to the hotel! Mukade-sensei had us train for hours today! Now I'm tired so you should walk me back to the hotel!"

"You're lost aren't you?" cut in Temari.

"W-what? No! How could you think something like that my Temari-chan! I'm a ninja, and ninja don't get lost!" as she said this, she sounded rather childish.

"So you are lost!" said Kankuro.

Clutching Gaara tighter, she whined, "My Gaara-kun, tell my kankuro-kun to stop being mean."

Hesitantly putting his arms around Aly, Gaara growled out, "Let's go."

With that, Aly quickly pecked Gaara on the cheek, and then climbed up his back so he was giving her a proper piggy back ride. Immediately, Gaara's face turned almost as red as his hair. Temari snickered and started leading the way back to the hotel, with Kankuro only a step behind her. Regaining his senses, Gaara followed them with Aly still on his back.

As they walked off, the six leaf natives couldn't help but stare. They all wondered who that girl was, that wasn't even the least bit intimidated by Gaara, while his own siblings were terrified.

**LINE**

Walking into the hotel, Aly climbed off of Gaara. "Bye my Gaara!" she yelled as she gave him one last hug before racing off to her room.

**LINE**

The day of the exam had finally come, and Aly had decided to walk with her own team instead of with Gaara. Entering the building, they quickly found the stairs. They had all been told it was on the third floor, but decided to see what the commotion was about on the second floor. Walking into the hallway, they saw two older looking leaf genin blocking a door.

As they got closer, they realized that these people were apparently blocking the testing room. After a small fight that escaladed to nothing, it was pointed out that they were only on the second floor. Deciding to follow the crowd and avoid attention, they headed back to the stairs.

Finally coming to the correct room, they entered along with everyone else. Immediately they headed over to where all the other sand nin were. Taking the seat next to Gaara, Aly proclaimed "See, I told you I could find my way here without your help!" Then she promptly stuck out her tongue at him.

Looking around the room, Aly noticed a group of leaf nin at the front of the room. They really were being rather loud and annoying, drawing attention to themselves. In them, she saw that purple eyed girl she had met while asking for directions. She also saw the three genin she had saw the other day with Gaara.

Soon enough, they had become loud enough to provoke a group of sound nin. Looking at the sound nin's arm, Aly couldn't help but wish that she had that kind of technology. _Oh well, _she thought, _in Alaska we have some rather advanced technologies compared to anything here. _

_**BANG,**_ the door slammed open, revealing a tall leaf nin, probably a jounin, with his forehead protector on a bandana covering his head, but he seemed to be bald under it. To top off his tough guy act, he had on a huge black trench coat.

Aly tried listening as he explained how he would be the proctor for the written part of the exam. Unfortunately, she started zoning out as soon as he introduced himself as Ibiki Morino. _Wow, that cloud looks just like a kitty!_ When everyone started getting up and going to the front of the room she jolted back to real life.

Glancing at Maki questioningly, Maki sighed.

"You really should pay more attention! We're supposed to go to the front to get our test packets and our seating arrangements!" explained Maki.

"What? We have to take a written exam!" she sighed, "and did they have to assign seats! What if I don't like the people next to me!" Seeing Maki shaking her head at this, she decided to stop talking. Instead, she started pouting.

"You're so childish sometimes Aly!" Maki laughed.

Sticking out her tongue, she said, "I'm older than you!"

"That only makes it worse!"

At this, Aly humphed and stomped to the front of the class, with Maki following her.

When they got to the front, a chunin handed them each a test form and a small slip of paper. Opening hers, Aly saw that she had the number seven on it.

_Great_, she thought, _right at the front._

Sitting down in the seventh desk, She noticed that she sat between a sound nin and a grass nin. Putting on one of her nicest smiles, she introduced herself to her neighbors, "Hi, I'm Aly! What's your name?"

They both warily glanced at her, then they gave her twin looks that clearly stated she was insane. After a second, they turned away from her and proceeded to ignore her.

She never did get her answer…

**Huge thanks to all my reviewers! I can't believe how many I got! **

**PewPEwLaser, thanks for the ideas on the jutsus! **

**Gaaraluva15, I tried to put more Aly/Gaara in it, although I'm not very good at writing romance, but I tried!**

**Anne Whitehead, thanks for the review!**

**Thanks to anyone who read/favorited/alerted/ whatever! Please leave a review, and maybe some suggestions on Aly's ninja techniques!**


	10. Chapter 9

**Look! It's on time! **

The proctor dude, as Aly had decided to call him, told them to begin the test. Turning over her sheet, she read though the questions.

She was surprised when Nejiri stood up and asked, "How many teams will you allow to pass?" When he took it back, she shrugged it off as stress.

After deciding that she only knew the answer to one of the questions, she filled out that one. Then she decided that she would have to cheat.

'_I should probably give the answers to Maki and Nejiri too'_ she decided. '_It's a good thing I developed that new jutsu.'_

Making the proper hand signs under the desk, she tilted her head down as if in thought, closing her eyes. Making sure that her face simply appeared as if she was thinking hard about a question, she let her consciousness drift into what she called her 'Suna Side.' Here, she could feel her connection to everyone from Suna. Finding the connection to Gaara, she entered his mind.

The first thing she noticed was that he was using his third eye to cheat. Quickly memorizing his answers, she returned to herself. Making it look like she had just had a sudden realization, Aly wrote down her newly discovered answers.

Then, repeating the same process as before, she entered Maki's mind. Finding that she was completely freaking out on the inside trying to figure out what to do, she inserted the answers into her mind.

Hearing a grateful, '_Thank you Aly!_' Aly left Maki's mind. Finding her way to Nejiri's, she saw that he was already subtly cheating off the person beside him. It was one of those annoying leaf rookies, the one with pink hair.

Smiling to herself, she left and returned to her body for good.

Looking at her now finished test, she smiled widely. Her eyes slid over to the clock on the far side of the wall. Then she realized she had no idea how long this test lasted. Deciding she didn't really care, she slumped over her desk, covering her test sheet. Then, she fell asleep.

.

.

_Crash, _Something flew through the window, shocking her awake. Seeing it was a leaf nin, she tried to wake up enough to figure out what was going on.

Listening to her talk, Aly realized she must be the next proctor. When the woman left back out the window, with instructions on where to go for the second exam, Aly yawned and stood up. Everyone stared at her before following her example.

Aly stretched and walked over to her teammates. Maki smiled and waved her over.

"Thanks so much Aly! I was seriously freaking out there for a moment!" Maki said as she hugged Aly.

"No problem, I would have helped Nejiri too, but he was already cheating off the person next to him," Aly replied as she was released from her hug.

"So where did you get the answers?" asked Nejiri.

"I got them from Gaara, but I forgot who he got them from."

The sand genins walked down the hall, following the crowd. Coming to the hall's end, they continued down the stairs. Exiting the testing building, they followed the crowd to what must be the leaf training fields.

When they arrived, the same woman who flew though the window started explaining the next task. To this, Aly actually paid attention. Then, right she handed out papers telling them to sign it so that she won't be held responsible for any deaths.

Looking around, Aly noticed that some were rather unnerved about this. Aly shrugged it off; after all, humans died all the time. They died in war, from illnesses, even from age. It was simply an inevitable fact of life. While she didn't like it, there was nothing she could do about it.

Plus, they were all ninja. They should be prepared for death at any moment.

Quickly signing her name, she didn't give it a second thought. As she handed it to Maki, she noticed the girl raise her eyebrows as she caught sight of her name. _Alysen Braginski-Jones._

Of course, Aly realized Maki was probably surprised because it wasn't in Kanji, but rather in westernized lettering.

After a discussion of strategy, they decided that Aly should carry the scroll. Of course, this discussion was held far away from listening ears, and they all spoke under their breaths in whispers that wouldn't carry.

As a team, the three entered the closed off tent area. Maki handed over the papers, and Aly took the scroll, hiding it in her coat, with the bump it made covered up by her scarf.

Exiting the tent, the three headed over to their assigned gate. Seeing a leaf chunin already waiting at the gate to make sure they didn't cheat, the three waited in front of it.

Aly sat down, leaning on the fence as she waited. "I'm so hungry!" she exclaimed. They had decided before hand to make themselves appear as a weak and naïve genin team. Aly was just playing it up.

"You're always hungry Aly!" Maki said, playing along.

"Whatever, I just want something to eat!"

"Idiot," Nejiri put in.

Aly stuck her tongue out at him, "At least I don't get lost everywhere I go!"

"Actually, you do," Maki butted in.

"I resent that!" Aly pouted, turning away.

Uh, excuse me," the leaf chunin spoke for the first time. He had been ignored up until then.

"What?" the three chorused together.

"The test has begun, you can enter now," he drawled.

"Oh, thanks!" Maki replied sweetly. Aly dragged herself to her feet, making a show to put a lot of effort into it. Meeting each other's eyes, the three nodded at each other before disappearing into the treetops.

**Sooo... I'm kind of sad that I had no reviewers at all last chapter. Please leave a review, all sudjestions are listened to and considered. I'm still trying to think of jutsus for Aly.**


	11. Chapter 10

**Sorry it's a day late! I really have no excuse other than laziness…. Oh well, enjoy chapter 10!**

_"Oh, thanks!" Maki replied sweetly. Aly dragged herself to her feet, making a show to put a lot of effort into it. Meeting each other's eyes, the three nodded at each other before disappearing into the treetops._

Hopping from tree to tree, the three started to discuss priorities.

"So, should we focus on food and shelter, or the scroll first?" Aly questioned.

"I believe for the first day or two, we should find a good place to camp, and put up secure traps around it, in case someone tries to attack us. Who knows, if we're lucky, we might even catch a scroll that way. On the third day, we should begin to actively search for a scroll." Nejiri voiced.

"Sounds like a plan then! I guess we should head over to that river, there should be plenty of food and water there!" Maki quietly exclaimed.

"Yeah, and that way, if we don't catch someone with our traps, by the time we do face anyone head on, they'll probably be tired from trying to gain a scroll for two days!" Aly agreed.

They continued on, Nejiri using his tracking skills to lead the way. After two hours of flying through the trees, they finally broke through the forest and into a clearing. However, it wasn't just a clearing. No, there was a river running right through the middle of it.

Looking at each other, they all nodded. This was going to be their camp for the next two days.

Aly was the first to speak up, "Nejiri, search the area for any sign of a threat. Maki, start one of those fires you make, you know, the ones without smoke. I'll go catch some dinner from the stream."

"Once I make sure there are no threats, I would like to begin setting up the traps immediately," Nejiri responded.

"Sounds like a plan, but don't wonder off too far. Try to stay in sight of the camp. If you run into trouble, don't hesitate to call for help." Maki put in her two cents.

"Okay then, and after dinner we can begin to put up more traps," Aly declared. With that declaration, the team separated. Aly made sure not to make too much noise, and keep an eye on the two as she caught enough fish for a decent meal for three. This task was amazingly easy for her, after all, Alaska had quite a large fishing industry.

.

They spent the next two days like this. After they ate, Aly and Maki helped Nejiri set up more traps. They decided that they wouldn't set down their packs, even if they were annoying to sleep with. This way, if they had to make a hasty getaway, they would keep their belongings.

When they woke up on the third day, it was clear that the traps were unneeded.

"Better to have them without need than need them without having them! Or something like that…"Maki voiced her opinion.

So on the third day of the second exam, the three genin woke up and headed out. Of course, after they ate breakfast. It was, in Aly's opinion, the most important meal of the day after all.

Observing their surroundings, it didn't take them long to find a huge ruckus being made. It seemed as if there were at least four teams fighting over there. After some discussion, they decided to avoid that area.

The team of three continued on, until they finally came upon another team. Grass nin. And with some sort of clones at that. They were completely surrounded. Ironically enough, after waiting for two days for their traps to spring, they were now caught in someone else's.

Automatically, the three put their backs to each other. They now resembled a triangle, ready to face the countless enemies, even though they knew only three of them were real.

Maki was the first to move, kicking out at the closest, and then moving to stab the next with a kunai. Both clones disappeared with a poof. With that, everything went to chaos. Nejiri began a difficult fire jutsu, blowing off a good section of them. Aly quickly joined the fighting with her own ice jutsu. She had discovered this unique ability while thinking of the frozen rivers of Alaska during the winter.

.

.

"So where is your scroll," Aly questioned. A pipe was held to one of the grass nin's throat.

His eyes widening he seemed to finally accept the situation. After all, there was very little hope of escape. This was due to the fact that he was currently tied so tightly he could hardly wiggle a finger, and both of his teammates were unconscious as well as tied up.

" I-it's in his weapons pouch, under the shuriken," he stuttered out, terrified of the look in Aly's eyes.

Aly was so proud of what she called her 'scary face.' She had developed it from watching Russia. It tended to come in handy in situations like this. She smiled a true smile, but she thought that this only made him more scared.

Maki quickly looked in the pouch, and pulled out a heaven scroll. "Yes! It's a heaven scroll! Now we can head over to the tower!"

The three sand nin got up, and walked out of the clearing, leaving the other ninja's behind, tied up and defenseless. As they exited they area, Aly turned around and waved at them, "Bye guys!"

Surprisingly enough, the rest of the way to the tower was calm. They ran into no more troubles, although they did hear some screams of bloody murder. At this sound, Aly smiled and said, "It reminds me of papa's house!"

They all came to the tower, were they came into a large, open room. It was empty except for a poster on the wall. Reading it, they decided it was a riddle.

"I think we're supposed to open them together," Maki decided.

"It can't be that simple!" Nejiri disagreed, probably only to be difficult.

"No, I think I agree with Maki on this one," Aly gave her opinion.

So, Maki grabbed the heaven scroll, and Aly grabbed the earth scroll. Then, they opened both scroll at the same time, and out of them came the familiar puff of smoke that was so commonly seen in jutsu…

**I would like to thank everyone who has stuck with me all the way to chapter 10, as well as all the people who favorite this or put it on alert! A special thanks to my reviewers:**

**PewPEwLaser: Thanks for reviewing, and the idea for the pipe and general winter!**

**Gaaraluva15****: Thanks for reviewing! 3**

**yu-chan: Gracias por tu review! Yo uso me espano uno ****conocimiento! Although I still had ****to**** use Google translate, because I'm not that good at spanish… actually, I wouldn't be ****surprised**** if what I attempted to write above is horribly mistaken…**


	12. Chapter 11

_So, Maki grabbed the heaven scroll, and Aly grabbed the earth scroll. Then, they opened both scroll at the same time, and out of them came the familiar puff of smoke that was so commonly seen in jutsu…_

The smoke cleared slowly, and a leaf chunin was revealed. He told the three to write the person character in the place it belonged, and explained the meaning of the riddle. After that, a door opened at the end of the hall, allowing them to continue on to where some other gennins were already waiting.

At this point, they realized that they had to wait there for another two days. _Oh well_, thought Aly, _at least Gaara's already here._

So they sat, and waited…

.

.

.

Two days later, after the last stragglers had reached the tower, the gennin were gathered up and led away. Coming into an arena of sorts, they were told to line up in some weird block formation. Despite the fact that once they were lined up, it looked pretty simple, it actually took quite awhile for everyone to figure out where to go. (1)

Once they finally got organized, a chunin from the leaf village explained what was happening. Because there were too many of them, there had to be preliminary rounds before the third exam. After explaining how the matches would happen, they all looked up at the large screen on the wall.

After a minute of word scrambling, the screen froze, revealing two names.

Akado Yoroi

Vs.

Uchiha Sasuke

Glad that she didn't have to go first, Aly walked with her team as well as Gaara's up to the balcony. She watched the first match with a detached look, not really caring who won. When the Sasuke guy won, Aly looked back up at the screen.

Again, the screen scrambled, finally ending on:

Aburame Shino

Vs.

Ali (2)

Aly was rather surprised at getting to go so soon, but decided just to go with it.

Looking at her opponent, she said, "Well, he looks like he's hiding something. I wonder what's under the coat."

Hearing this, Maki laughed and shoved her friend over the rail. Deciding to let herself look weak to lower his defenses, Aly let herself fall to the ground in a heap. Getting up and brushing herself off, the Alaskan stood up.

"Hey, they spelled my name wrong! Oh well, it's probably because I never really told anyone my whole name…" Aly smiled.

Shino only raised an eyebrow.

"You may begin," called the proctor. Immediately, Aly pulled out two kunai and threw them at her opponent. He easily dodged them, as was expected. Then, Aly watched as he did the most curious thing. He sent a swarm of insects after her. Then it clicked. _Auburame_, the clan that used chakra eating insects.

Thinking of her options, Aly felt the gift the Mr. America had given her during the meeting. She smiled.

"Well, if you're going to try to eat my chakra, then I won't use any!" Aly called to her opponent, pulling out a revolver.

Aiming the gun at her opponent, she fired. After a loud _Bang,_ everyone had to wait as the smoke from the foreign device faded. Aly didn't wait, instead she ran straight into it.

When the smoke finally cleared, everyone saw Aly holding a pipe over Shino, who was laying on the ground, unconscious. It appeared as if she had taken him by surprise after that _thing _fired, and had knocked him out with the pipe. The mysterious weapon was nowhere to be seen.

No one saw the look of shock pasted across Shino's face. Everyone saw Aly's smile.

When the medics came up, they almost missed the small wound on his shoulder, gushing blood.

Aly walked back up to the balcony.

.

The next match was Kankuro versus some leaf nin. Aly noted that he was actually a rather good fighter. His fatal mistake was mistaking Crow for Kankuro. Although, that was an easy mistake to make, seeing as Kankuro had switched himself with Crow.

Aly congratulated him on his win, even as everyone was still slightly wondering how she had won her own match.

Turning back to the screen, it announced that two leaf kunoichi would fight next. As she watched with boredom, Aly realized they must have been friends, or at the very least known each other. The fight seemed to represent something more to the two girls. It must have been symbolic to them.

Finally, the fourth match of the day came to a close. The girls were both unable to continue. That ending, also, seemed symbolic. Aly shrugged, turning back to the screen.

This time, it was Temari's turn. She was to fight some leaf nin named Tenten. Aly cheered her on as she went off to meet her opponent.

Aly watched as Temari continuously blew the other girls weapons back at her. When she won, Aly hugged Temari, congratulating her. Then, with the fifth match done, Everyone turned back to the screen.

Aly gazed up at it as it scrambled. Then, it slowed down, revealing the next match.

Nara Shikamaru

Vs.

Nejiri

Looking at her friend, Aly wished her teammate luck. He dodged Maki as she attempted to shove him over the edge like she did to Aly. Instead, he opted to walk down the stairs. Although, it seemed as if his opponent was not so lucky. He was pushed over the edge by a grinning blonde.

As the two guys met in the middle of the arena, they looked each other over. Aly noted that the leaf nin seemed unusually lazy.

Then, the proctor called for them to begin.

**So, I wanted to make some things clear:**

**(1) Lining up in a square formation like it shows, is actually a lot more difficult than one would think, I would know, we've had to do it in marching band. After couple times it gets easier, but since they probably have never had to do that before, I figured it would take awhile for them to get organized, instead of just appearing that way like in the show.**

**(2) That would be the Japanese version of Aly, and since she doesn't like her full name (It's too long) most people don't know it.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading/ favoriting/ alerting/ whatever!**

**And a special thanks to my wonderfull reviewers!**

**yu-chan: Gracias! Tu eres muy agradable!**

**PewPEwLaser: Thank you! and your idea to improvise modern devises led me to use the gun! I hope you like it! Oh, and I try to update every Sunday!**

**oOlslollypopOo: Thanks for reviewing!**

**Please leave a review! All ideas are accepted and taken into considerations! also constructive critesism is welcome!**


	13. Chapter 12

Lasttime:

_Nara Shikamaru_

_Vs._

_Nejiri_

_Looking at her friend, Aly wished her teammate luck. He dodged Maki as she attempted to shove him over the edge like she did to Aly. Instead, he opted to walk down the stairs. Although, it seemed as if his opponent was not so lucky. He was pushed over the edge by a grinning blonde._

_As the two guys met in the middle of the arena, they looked each other over. Aly noted that the leaf nin seemed unusually lazy._

_Then, the proctor called for them to begin._

Nejiri was immediately in action. Unfortunately, these rash moves got him caught by the opponents shadow jutsu. The match didn't last very long.

Next up were another two leaf shinobi. Aly decided to cheer for the one with the dog. After all, the doggy was probably the cutest thing in the room. Sadly, the puppy and his master lost.

After that there were even more leaf shinobi, although they seemed to be related, and share a kekkei genkai. Altogether, it was an interesting match.

Next up was Gaara against some leaf kid. Surprisingly, he actually posed a threat to Gaara. Aly had to hold herself back as_ her_ Gaara was getting hit. When the match was ended with Gaara as the winner, Aly ran down to help him.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Hn" he looked away in shame.

This response just made Aly want to hug him more. Which is just what she did. She proceeded to lift him up and carry him away despite his protests.

Finally, it was time for the final battle of the day. Maki joyfully leaped over the edge to face her opponent. She was able to beat him with only taijutsu.

**Sorry it took so long and its soo short. I'm going to try to update again with a longer chapter some time this week.**

**To my amazing reviewers:**

**APH1168Kittens: Thanks!**

**SwissEclipse130: I feel so honored! **

**Anna: Thanks so much! I agree Gaara is sooo kawai!**

**yu-chan: hmm, Si, las armas de fuego están permitidas en combates de ninjas en mi historia poque las ninjas no sabe de armas de fuego. La tuberia saco en la capa de Aly. Gracias por tu comentarios!**

**CrossTycoon:sorry about such a long wait and I'm not sure if I'll be updating on Sundays anymore... but I agree and thanks for the sujestions!**

**Thanks to everyone who is reading this! and to all the people who fav/alerted this! I just did my monthly email check and all of my fav/alerted alerts made me soo happy! please leave me a review!**


	14. Chapter 13

Once the final battle ended, the winners gathered on the main floor of the room. A simple standard tournament bracket was quickly drawn up. A box with small slips of paper was passed around, giving everyone their appropriate place in the bracket at random.

First would be Naruto Uzumaki against the Hyuuga boy.

The second round consisted of Sasuke Uchiha and Gaara.

Third would be Aly herself against Kankuro.

The fourth battle was Shikamaru Nara, Temari, and Maki in a three way tournament where Shikamaru and Temari would fight first, and the winner went against Maki. To say Maki wasn't exactly joyous over this development would be an understatement.

After being told the order, they learned that the final round wouldn't take place for another month. Of course, most of them, including Aly, already knew this.

So, with that, they were dismissed.

.

"Hey Kankuro, no hard feelings okay?"

"Actually I was planning on forfeiting," he replied to Aly's question.

"Oh, okay then, I guess that makes sense."

.

Only a week had passed since the exams, and Aly was bored. Sure, she had been training, but there really was only so much one could do.

Plus, training was _so_ boring.

Currently, Aly was walking down the streets of Konoha to find some lunch. Seeing a ramen stand, she went and found a seat. When she turned to the side however, she realized she had sat down right next to a leaf genin that had made it to the final rounds.

He must of realized the same thing, because when he turned to her the first thing out of his mouth was, "Hey, you're the girl who used that weird thing on Shino, right?"

"Yeah, and you're the guy who wouldn't stay down," it wasn't a question.

"Yep! Believe it!"

Aly couldn't help but laugh at that, the kid sure was interesting.

"Can I help you miss?" the cook finally broke in.

"Uh, well, I'll have whatever he's having," she said, pointing at Naruto's bowl, which looked uber delicious.

So, she spent her lunch with Naruto, and even agreed to train with him a bit afterwards.

.

Of course, Naruto wasn't the only one who inquired about her odd weapon. In fact, her own team did so the night after the preliminaries.

"So, what exactly was that thing you used against your opponent?" Maki initiated the questioning, although it was obvious that the Nejiri and their sensei were interested as well.

"Oh, that? Nothing really," she tried avoiding the question.

"C'mon! you have to tell us! I've never seen anything like that!" Nejiri put in.

"Fine, in the lands outside the hidden continent they have different weapons. This is one of them. It's quite common there, really."

"So how did you get a hold of it?" Maki asked.

"It was a gift, from my father."

No more was said on the subject, even though there were still unasked questions. After all, those could wait until they returned to Suna, where it was safe to converse.

.

Another week had passed.

Aly was currently working on her ice jutsu. She had decided that even if the test was bogus and she probably wasn't going to get to fight anyway, of she did she was not going to use the gun. Not in front of a crowd like that. That was just asking for trouble.

"Hey,"

Aly paused half way through the hand signs and looked around for the source of her disruption. Soon, she spotted it, or rather him, walking towards her.

"Gaara!" her whole face lit up with happiness.

"Aly," he nodded in acknowledgement.

Giving up on her practice, she ran at him. When she got close enough, she jumped into the air and tackled him in a hug.

"What brings you here?" the kunoichi asked.

"I was wondering if you would like to get something to eat," Gaara replied.

"As in a date?"

"I suppose you could say that."

"Okay, so where would you want to eat?" Aly queried.

"There's this barbeque place that I've heard is quite delicious."

"Then lead the way my daring knight!"

This made Gaara falter, although he really should have been used to her behavior, "huh."

"Just walk."

"Okay."

The date went rather well, although it would have been better had a rather loud leaf genin team wasn't sitting in the booth behind theirs. Altogether, the two enjoyed the evening, even if one of them had aan odd way of showing it.

Aly really enjoyed the time with_ her _Gaara. He even walked her to her door, although she was staying in the same hotel as him…

When they arrived at the door to Aly's hotel room, Gaara stood there a while, as if having an internal battle. Then, suddenly he leaned in and cupped Aly's face in one hand. Slowly, he gently pressed his lips to hers. For a second they stayed that way, enjoying the closeness of the sensation with their eyes shut.

_Bam_, all of a sudden the door to Aly's room flew open from the inside.

"Okay lovebirds, time to break it up," Maki yelled as she grabbed the back of Aly's shirt and dragged her inside the room.

"See you later Gaara!" Aly called sheepishly.

"…" After the door slammed shut in his face, Gaara remained standing there speechless for a moment before grumbling and walking back to his own room.

.

Meanwhile, inside the hotel room, Maki was squealing in a rather girlish fashion.

"My little Aly's growing up! You have to give me all the details! How come you didn't tell me about this sooner?"

Aly wondered how she was expected to answer any of Maki's questions seeing as there was no room to talk during her bombardment.

**Look! It's longer! sorry if it's kind of a filler, but it was needed here and I tried to make it as interesting as possible!**

**To my two reviewers that reviewed amazingly fast:**

**BLARG: MEOW**

**SweeterThanChocolate: Sorry the last one was so shoort! I just wanted to get it over with! I hope this one makes up for it, as well as the fact that I hope to update again soon!**


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